By the early 80s, much of the British music press had turned their backs on prog, dismissing it as old-fashioned and out of touch with the youth of the day. But in the UK’s shires a grassroots scene was beginning to grow, spearheaded by Marillion, whose successful debut album Script For A Jester’s Tear paved the way for a sound inspired by the 70s classics but infused with modern pop hooks and poetic lyrics. Members of Pendragon, Pallas, IQ, Solstice and more share the story behind the rise (and fall) of a movement that would set prog on a new path.
ll things must pass, and prog’s imperial early-to-mid-70s phase was no exception. By the end of that decade, many of its chief protagonists were either seemingly spent as creative forces (ELP, Yes), about to undergo radical transformations (Genesis, Yes again) or absent (King Crimson, albeit temporarily). The upstarts of punk may have been commercial minnows in comparison, but their jibes about ‘dinosaurs’ hit where it hurt.
Yet as the 80s got underway, something unexpected was happening. Across the United Kingdom, a wave of grassroots bands set about reviving this seemingly moribund genre. A scene was emerging, largely away from the bright lights and music industry back-slapping of London. It was centred around the likes of Aylesbury’s Marillion (née Silmarillion) and space cadets Solstice, Twelfth Night (who began life as an instrumental band at Reading University), Pallas from Aberdeen, Pendragon (originally Zeus Pendragon) from Stroud and Portsmouth’s IQ (formed from the ashes of The Lens). Their ranks were swollen by countless other like-minded outfits: Chemical Alice (whose keyboard player Mark Kelly would join Marillion, and other members would go on to form Tamarisk), Trilogy, Haze, Airbridge, Liaison, Citizen Cain and others.
As the decade progressed, these bands would channel the DIY spirit of punk to create a vibrant homegrown scene, populated by a handful of larger-than-life characters and soundtracked by albums that wore their love of a thenunfashionable musical style openly. One band –Marillion –would go on to much bigger things, but others would have their own individual and collective successes, not least in keeping the progressive rock flame flickering. progmagazine.com
Unlike earlier scenes that had been centred around specific locales, the new prog bands initially operated in isolation in towns and cities across the country, largely unaware of each other.
Mick Pointer: “Silmarillion played our one and only show at a pub in Southall [west London] called The Hamborough Tavern. We had a big fallout with the guitarist and keyboard player over a fucking Mel
